Who was Jesus (2): He was ‘the Man’

Do you remember Joan Osborne’s “What if god was one of us”? In my early days, it never occurred to me what Joan Osborne was actually singing about. Have you ever considered what it would be like if God became a human, just like you and I? Last post (see Who was Jesus (1), it was established that in fact God had become a man and his name was Jesus. Today, we are going to look into what this means- how divine and human was Jesus- did he experience what we do or, because he was God, did he only experience a glimpse of our joys, trials and pains?

God become a man

Jesus, like you and I was fully human. The conundrum is, as the bible clearly points out, that Jesus was fully God and fully man at the same time. The most important fact to point out here is that God became a man and not, a man became God, which some religions will teach. As Jesus taught: For I [Jesus] have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me (John 6:38). So, Jesus is God who became a man, but how can I relate to him- he’s God?

Just like us



The bible clearly teaches that Jesus experienced everything we do, but he was without sin. Jesus was born of a (virgin) mother (Matthew 1:25; Luke 2:7; Galatians 4:4) and buried after his death (but was raised from the dead). As Kierkegaard puts it “Jesus life ran from womb to tomb (Milne, 1998, p. 161). Jesus grew naturally and in a family, with brothers and sisters. He worked a job as a carpenter and probably enjoyed a beer after work at the pub with his mates. He was a regular Jewish bloke. Apart from popular media that depicts Jesus as a feminine sissy, Jesus would have been quite well built, as he was a labourer, and would have been a pretty entertaining fellow (many people used to love hanging out with him). I really don’t believe that if you were around in Jesus time, you definitely would not have been able to tell that he was God until he commenced his ministry.

Jesus experienced the same emotional and physical limitations as we do: For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one [Jesus] who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin (Hebrews 4:15). Jesus experienced tiredness, hunger and thirst, sadness, love, compassion, anger and pain. He was a passionate man, one which all men should aspire to be like. Jesus is God, but the bible says that he put his divine attributes to the side to become just like us (see Philippians 2:5-8). But you might be wondering why did he have to become a man?

Jesus our Great High Priest and Redeemer

We have all sinned against God- gone our own way. We, as a result have offended God by our sin. God, who loves us, came into the world to rescue us from our sin; but he could not do this in his divine state. So God took on flesh, the man Jesus, and lived a life just like us, tempted in every way that we are and yet he did not fall. He lived a perfect life and by all respect did not deserve to die. As stated previously, that he was sent into this world on a mission. His mission is the gospel. He came to die for our sins on the cross and was raised again three days later, thus defeating sin, Satan and death. To better understand this atonement, we must look into the Old Testament priestly system.

In Old Testament Israel, God had appointed priests who would slaughter animals (generally a perfect lamb) on behalf of the people to atone for their sin against God (we will explore this further in a later post). The book of Hebrews states that this was a fore shadow of what was to come in Jesus. Jesus, our priest, offered his own life to God the Father on the cross to atone for our sins; pay our fine so those who trust in him will be forgiven! Jesus is our priestly lamb who slaughtered himself so we could have eternal life. Only God can pay our fine and this is the fulfilment of this promise - Jesus.

Now, with this in mind, what will you do knowing that God has become one of us? Why not turn in faith to him?

Jesus was sent by his Father as a missionary to proclaim the Gospel through preaching and promoting the Gospel through love and compassion of our neighbour. As a Christian, one who is sent by Jesus, do you see yourself as a missionary fulfilling this commissioning (proclamation & promotion)?

Check out Mars Hill Church website and Vintage Jesus series. There is a book available titled Vintage Jesus – a must for those who have questions.